Protestant & Catholic Rapsites I post on

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I knew that alot of people in Africa and Europe were into American Christian rap, but I never knew people were listening to it in Asia. Cool stuff! This is a hard song to rap, but she did it perfectly.

The original song(the second verse is missing in the official video due to long distance issues between the artists. I went to school with the one in plats in the video)

"The International Orthodox Christian Studies program in the United Kingdom is launching a new DVD based course for parishes to use in evangelism. John Maddex talks with organizer Dr. Christine Mangala Frost about The Way"

- We haven't had such practice, but I don't exclude a possibility that it can take place. There've been some positive tendencies this year and some steps of the Chinese authorities make us think it is possible. We were first time allowed to celebrate for foreigners in Harbin. Then there's a very old Chinese priest who is retired and lives in Shanghai. He was allowed to celebrate for Chinese citizens and foreigners were also allowed to the service. An Orthodox church is given to the Orthodox community in Shanghai for the time of Expo-2010, though the community still doesn't have legal status. Anyway, we can't say that authorities of the People's Republic of China are negative about Orthodoxy. The problem is in weakness of the parishes.

- Do you think that Christian teaching is close and comprehensible to an ordinary Chinese? Are they interested in Orthodoxy?

- Western Christians call the last thirty years the period of golden age for Christianity in China as the number of Catholics and Protestants grows 13 per cent a year. There's a great interest to Christianity, but Chinese people mostly see Catholicism and Protestantism that are much wider presented in China. Though I can say that academic circles show great interest to Orthodoxy, there's much feedback at our website, there are active discussions in Chinese section of our forum dedicated to Orthodoxy in China. Ordinary and educated people show great interest to Orthodoxy as Catholicism and Protestantism don't answer some of their inner questions. There are certain things in Chinese spiritual tradition that make Orthodoxy more attractive than Catholicism and Protestantism for the Chinese.

- The Moscow Theological Academy has opened optional courses of the Chinese language and culture for the students. Is there real need in such specialists?

- It's extremely important, we have to spare no effort. The whole Church should consider the question: on one side, it involves bordering dioceses, on the other, theological educational establishments, and, on the third, the Department for External Church Relations. In fact, each synodal department can do something in this direction. The topic of Orthodoxy in China should be lifted up to the level of the whole church."

"On His Holiness Patriarch Kirill's request we are getting ready to build 200 Orthodox churches in Moscow on a charity basis," Resin said at a press conference on Wednesday.

He noted that it is planned to build most of these Orthodox churches in Moscow bedroom districts and building options are worked out and approved by the Patriarchate.

Resin said that alongside with Orthodox churches building of mosques, synagogues and other cult buildings will also go on in the capital. "Moscow is a multinational city, no one will stand aside," he stressed."

I haven't made a decision on his guilt or innocence yet. Instead I'm gonna leave that to the courts. I knew about Eddie Long back in the late 1990's. I had a bunch of friends in Alabama who use to go to the Impact conferences in Atlanta Georgia in where Eddie Long was often a guest speaker. They would tell me about him and how wild and crazy he was in the pulpit. Also, anyone that knows anything about Eddie is that it's common for him to wear street clothes and muscle shirts in the pulpit as well. At the time we always saw that as Eddie trying to connect with the urban youth that he was mentoring and trying to reach. My friends would always have mixed feelings about him, but it would always be on theological grounds. The Calvinists didn't like him, but the charismatics did.

I grew up in a Baptist Church and even though Eddie Long's group is somewhat of a different Baptist animal, the church scandals of pastors seem somewhat the same. I know all to well the imperfections of preachers. Back in the late 1970's to early 1980's when I was little, we had a very famous preacher who was a known womanizer. He got struck by lightening one day while playing golf in the rain and never recovered. He was either in a comma in a hospital bed for years or he was on life support. I really can't remember, but the preacher we had after him was gay and he use to beat his wife alot. I could be wrong, but I think he died of AIDS.

The next preacher we had was a noble, and honorable man, an awesome role modal, but the deacon board didn't like him and so eventually they got rid of him. The next pastor was an awesome preacher, but his wife left him because she didn't like the city of Pittsburgh and didn't want to stay. And so, alot of us who were raised in black churches already know about church scandals. These things are nothing new.

On a protestant christian hiphop message board I often hang out at, there is a split between the Calvinists and Reformed who tend to see Eddie Long as unsaved and so they were pretty happy about this situation. They had nothing good to say about the man. He was pretty much guilty at the start.

Then you had the Charismatics, Pentecostals, and Word of Faithers who were more compassionate about the situation. They wanted to wait and see what the outcome was.

However, I think most of us already know deep down inside that he's probably guilty. I mean, when you have four young adults come forward on you it's pretty much a wrap. The court of public opinion is already gonna be decided. My heart goes out for the four that stepped forward, but my heart also goes out to the people at New Birth as well. It's never a good feeling when stuff like this happens. There needs to be better accountability for clergy in general. In the ancient church the deaconess was used as a buffer between the Bishop and other female laity. Yes, the deaconess was a lay person. She was used to help Baptize women.

We may not need a deaconess anymore, but it might be good to have someone do the same function that she was used for. There needs to be a buffer between the clergy and females as well as a buffer between clergy and children. This would save everyone alot of heartache and pain. I don't know if this is the practice everywhere, but male doctors aren't allowed to be in a room alone with women patients. There must be another woman doctor there or a female nurse present as well.

In some group homes, male workers are not allowed to work at female homes. I don't know what the policy is for public schools, but we all know about the scandals that happen there with both male and female teachers. And so this problem is rampant in society in general. It's not just a church thing. It's a fallen humanity thing. It's a lack of accountability thing.

What Troy Polamalu said at the 1:47 to 2:25 minute mark pretty much sums it all up:

Taking our cue from Fr. Florovsky, who wrote with passion on this topic, we will examine the doctrine of atonement in many of the same authorities upon which Fr. Florovsky relied: the New Testament, St. Irenaeus of Lyon, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, and others. We will conclude with an analysis of Fr. Florovsky's own writings on atonement, followed by a panel discussion. So far, several well known Orthodox scholars have agreed to participate in the symposium, including the three listed below.

This symposium is co-sponsored by the Fr. Georges Florovsky Orthodox Christian Theological Society at Princeton University and the School of Christian Vocation and Mission at Princeton Theological Seminary"

"Frank Avila interviews Father Sidney H. Griffith after He gives a 90 minute question and answer session, Father Griffith is a professor of Semitic and Egyptian languages and literature at the Catholic University of America and author of "The Beginnings of Christian Theology in Arabic: Muslim-Christian Encounters in the Early Islamic Period" and "Arabic Christianity in the Monasteries of Ninth Century Palestine." This is a part of a yearly lecture series during Arab American history month in the Chicago area focusing on Arab Christians and Christians in the Middle East."

I took down a post about a friend's blog due to his ultra negative views about the council of Chalcedon. I worked on his blog for a few days and I never caught it. Thanks to a blog reader for letting me know about it.

One of Europe's most traditional religions has found a following in a place not normally associated with any sort of faith

Pattaya has long been known as Thailand's sin city by the beach _ teeming with prostitutes, massage parlours, brothels, foreign mafia, pubs and bars _ not a place one goes to seek spiritual enlightenment.

But in the midst of a city famous for all the wrong reasons is an unusual sight _ the All Saints Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), a building with three golden domes and beautifully painted frescos inside.

The burly Russian who runs this outpost of Orthodox Christianity says that while he's not impressed by his surroundings, his congregation is growing and his church is doing a good job of taking care of the faithful.

''It is very difficult for me to come and stay here. I don't feel so good. All the sin has some bad energy and you can feel it. You can feel the atmosphere of the sin,'' said Archimandrite Oleg, whose secular name is Oleg Mikhailovich Cherepanin.

''I can stay for one or two nights, but after that I become sick and want to go back to Bangkok. I rarely leave the church whether I am in Bangkok or in Pattaya.

''The present problem for me is that the sins in Pattaya are like a part of normal life. If a person commits a sin then he or she can go to church and confess, then they will understand that the sin is not a part of normal life, but it is like a sickness of the soul.

''But when sin begins to be a part of normal life and the person doesn't feel it, then this is a problem and this is the one we have here in Pattaya.''

Archimandrite Oleg told Spectrum how his church started in Thailand.

''After many letters from Russian people living in Thailand were sent to the late His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, I was sent here in 1999 to see and learn about the spiritual situation of the people who went abroad, especially to this region and to Thailand,'' he said.

''What I saw was not only Russians, but also Bulgarians, Greeks, Romanians as well as Orthodox people from other western countries who are also Orthodox but didn't have any spiritual care, so I reported to His Holiness and he blessed me to try to organise an Orthodox parish in Bangkok, and that was the beginning of Orthodoxy in Thailand. The St Nicholas parish was opened in Bangkok and I was appointed as its rector.

'However, at that time, I could do nothing but pray. People came and prayed with me, and, step by step, it became a parish with other nationals joining and Thai people became interested as well.

''We are not called the Russian Orthodox Church we are the Orthodox Church in Thailand, which is for everyone. We have in our parish Russians, Ukrainians, Romanians Bulgarians, people from France and other countries, including Africa. Every Orthodox person is welcome.